Jarvis replaces Craig Ramsay, who was hired as head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers on June 24 after three seasons as an assistant to Boston coach Claude Julien. The Bruins announced the appointment of Jarvis on Wednesday.

Jarvis was an associate coach for Montreal the past four seasons, the first of them when Julien was coach of the Canadiens. Before that, Jarvis, 55, was an assistant coach from 1988 to 2002 with the Stars in Minnesota and Dallas.

As a player, he was a forward for 13 years and was part of the Montreal teams that won Stanley Cups in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. He later played with Washington and Hartford. He holds the NHL record with 964 consecutive games played from 1975 through 1987.